Loading ASC files in blender
for one of my project i was using this addon: https://sourceforge.net/projects/pointcloudskin/files/latest/download?source=files

it did its job very well - just had to make sure the ASCII data is correct (x,y,z)

I am not sure if its compatible with 2.76a - but once you manage to import the data and skin the point cloud - you can always go for newer blender version. 

He has also a CSV import addon - which also comes very handy in this matters.

As for the skinning process: it a bit of try and error process.

good luck